April 3 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

The man who wrote Psalm 6 was in great trouble; he was in fear of losing his life. God should not allow him to die, he said, for in the kingdom of death (called "Sheol" in some Bible versions) nobody remembers God or praises him.

His way of praying shows what he believed concerning life and what he knew concerning death. He knew that the purpose of life is praising God. We live for the glory of God. But in death our voice is muted. The song has ended. Therefore he wanted to go on living. "Let me live," he begged. "Then your praise will be prolonged."

Before we say that this man did not know what we know about death, why not admit that he possessed a truth about life of which we need to be reminded? The psalm-singer says that living is praising God; that's why death is to be feared and hated. Christians, however, have spoken so many soothing words concerning death that they sometimes seem to forget that death is a fearful enemy of God and of the human race. As a matter of fact, some Christians talk about death as if it's the time when the song of praise begins! Such a view betrays a misunderstanding of dying, because it does not see the truth about living.

If the writer of Psalm 6 could have heard that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, he would have said: "Hallelujah! Now God's praise is continued, for life is continued."

He did not know about the resurrection. We do, because we are liv­ing in the age in which Jesus is building his church. And Christ prom­ised that the "gates of Sheol" or the "powers of death" would not prevail against his church.

The church is built on the resurrection. Therefore we are no longer afraid that death will be the end of the song. But a person can be com­forted by the conquest of death only when he knows the purpose of life.

REFLECTIONS

Suppose you, like the writer of this psalm, were in danger of losing your life. What reason(s) would you give to God to prolong it?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.